If you want to tackle doing any of your own repairs on your guitars or even amps, I would certainly recommend going slowly and simply at first. You certainly don’t want to do any un-called for damage to your instrument and its electronics, nor do you want to make a problem worse. You also have to be careful to not affect its originality, especially if it’s a guitar that merits being considered a collectible, either these days or in the future!

I am not one for trying anything remotely difficult on my guitars…I prefer them in the hands of competent luthiers, but I know that for many of you, it is a hard thing to find a good repair shop or person, and the whole thing can be a rather agonizing and anxiety-provoking process. The first time I saw my ’52 Les Paul apart and “naked” in Dan Armstrong’s repair shop in NYC I almost fainted! So, it may be a good idea to start with some really simple guitar, perhaps a cheap “Pawnshop Prize” that may need a little or A LOT of TLC, and just try out some basic procedures on it. It’s also a good idea to befriend a luthier who may be willing to take you under their wing to help show you some of the “tricks of the trade” too. Maybe you could even become a kind of apprentice who can really learn it as a trade that you can one day make money at! It’s also exciting to try to do some guitar building on your own. These days, there are many “kits” that are available so you can start learning how to assemble and set-up solid body electric guitars. The easiest by far are the bolt-on neck kind, but you can eventually move up to the hollow body kind, as well as acoustics and even the toughest of all; archtops!

Still, I’d say the most important things are to work and build up slowly in terms of your guitar-repairing prowess, and you must really try to learn from some folks far more experienced than you. They will always be willing to show you how things are done the right way, and for sure, it’ll be a rewarding experience for you to begin to do some of your own repair work! Good luck!